Some say it will be a gamble if the Rugby Football Union install Stuart Lancaster as England's next permanent head coach. It is an increasingly lazy-minded prediction which basically assumes the likeable Cumbrian is an over-promoted PE teacher without any real long-term vision. If that is a view shared by any of those involved in the appointment process, they are in for an almighty shock when Lancaster is formally interviewed later this week.

Because, as it swiftly becoming the caretaker's trademark, they will find their interviewee two steps ahead of the game. The Six Nations may be barely over but Lancaster has not paused for breath, having already gathered players, staff and even their partners together to reinforce the message that England's journey has barely started. The team's next stop will be South Africa in June for a three-Test series and the interim coach wants the squad "mentally in the right place" whether he is still in charge or not. "I'm 100% confident we will be [prepared]," he said on Tuesday, making no effort to hide his desire to be among those on the plane.

He also has a long-term plan with a remarkable amount of meat on it for someone who has been involved at Test level for a matter of weeks. Near the top of his list is a conveniently-situated national centre of rugby excellence which he argues England require "without a doubt" if they wish to be consistent high-performance world beaters. The interview panel will also hear him advocate an individual player development programme which places the player's interests first and reduces the perpetual tug-of-war between club and country. He even knows precisely how many caps – 663, apparently – his England starting XV should have by the time of the 2015 World Cup final. This is not a man whose interview preparation consists of a few hastily scribbled pre-interview notes on the back of an envelope.

On the contrary, there will be a genuinely holistic feel to Lancaster's pitch to the five-man panel headed by the RFU's chief executive Ian Ritchie. It may be clever PR to share his thinking with the media on a regular basis but it would not work if his presentations were rubbish. On Tuesday he reiterated the values he has sought to instil from the outset – honesty, integrity, enthusiasm, positivity, hard-working – as well as the qualities his players should possess, namely self-belief, self-control, balanced egos and toughness. Simple, maybe, but Graham Rowntree's insistence that he has never encountered better team morale suggests it has been effective. "We didn't just want to hold the fort," said Lancaster. "Whatever happens next there are some strong foundations to build on."

The next generation of talent will also be picked with the above criteria firmly in mind. It may be years, rather than months, before some of the following play for their country but Lancaster already has a list of names in mind who are closer to senior recognition than even they might be aware. For the likes of the Wasps' lock Joe Launchbury, the talented centres Jonathan Joseph, Elliot Daly, George Lowe and Henry Trinder and Jonny May, promotion is a real possibility if they can up their games between now and the end of the regular Premiership season in early May.

As for the coaching setup, Lancaster is standing by his belief that a relatively small coaching group works better than appointing too many chefs. He has never met or spoken to either Nick Mallett or Wayne Smith and, while not entirely ruling out working alongside someone else, he made clear his preference for the current trio of himself, Rowntree and Andy Farrell. "I don't want to put the cart before the horse [in terms of his interview] but I want to try and explain how I think the chemistry has worked well in its current format."

Whatever the panel's response, Lancaster can only hope the interview goes better than the first one he ever attended. "I remember my first job interview for Heysham High School in Morecambe. I applied for the head of department role when I hadn't even qualified as a teacher. Funnily enough, I didn't get it."

From his earliest days in education, he has clearly not been afraid of a challenge and that self-belief endures. "I'm confident in my ability, born out of 20 years of studying coaching, leadership and management," he said. Mallett is a highly intelligent and hugely experienced coach but he is up against a determined opponent in no doubt about England's future direction.